Children's Home run by HAVEN CARE GROUP LIMITED in Staffordshire

Inspection report children‟s home: SC474179 1 SC474179 Registered provider: Haven Care group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home is registered to provide care for up to four children who have social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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good

The children‟s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC474179 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/08/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 14/11/2017 Full Good 12/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 02/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: SC474179 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children‟s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the „Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children‟s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home‟s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; and

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(e)(f)) 05/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which are kept up to date and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 05/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(c)) 05/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children‟s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. 05/07/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC474179 4 Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 16 (1)(5))

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(c)) 05/07/2019

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home‟s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Recommendations

 For children‟s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children‟s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene etc.); however in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than „institutional‟ impression. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a healthy and active lifestyle. Staff help children to stop smoking through offering lots of encouragement and support. This support has helped one child to stop smoking. He is now very proud of his achievement and is regularly attending the gym. Another child has lost weight. This is because staff have encouraged him to eat healthy food and to be more active. As a result of the support and encouragement of staff, children experience good health and increased self-esteem. Inspection report children‟s home: SC474179 5 Children live in a warm and nurturing environment. They enjoy their evening meal together and they say that the food is „lovely‟. Children and staff sit together in the lounge. Children also have an activities room where they play on the play station and younger children build Lego. Children are encouraged to personalise their bedrooms and their opinions are asked about decoration of the communal areas in the home. This

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

encourages children to develop a sense of ownership and to invest in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

However, some areas of the home, such as the kitchen, need repair and the lounge needs additional furnishing such as a rug so that children live in a homelier environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have day-to-day discussions and regular planned meetings with children . They help children to develop skills and strategies to manage their own conflicts and difficult feelings. Staff also talk to children about being kind and being tolerant of the people they live with. As a result, children develop positive relationships that help them to quickly settle.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff develop strong relationships with children‟s families and professionals. Children benefit from this joined-up approach. One social worker was very positive about the staff‟s relationship with a child‟s family and their commitment to transporting the child a long distance to enable them to maintain their school placement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager has arranged for a representative from a children‟s advocacy service to visit the home on a regular basis to talk with the children. This is giving children a stronger voice in being able to influence decisions that affect their everyday lives

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, two children have left the home and three children have moved in. Managers made the decision to admit one child who was at high risk of child sexual exploitation despite the home being in an area of high risk. She left in an unplanned way because staff could not keep her safe and stop her from going missing from the home. The acting manager has reflected on the impact of this decision to admit the child and the potential impact that this had on the other children in the home. No children currently living in the home are at risk of child sexual exploitation.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children told the inspector that they feel safe living in this home.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff ensure that children have detailed risk assessments in place. Staff use these risk assessments to help them to have a clear understanding over how to safeguard each child in their care. Staff have helped one child who is at high risk of criminal exploitation to keep safe. They have been vigilant about supervising him and have monitored his mobile phone use. They have talked with him about the risks and have supported him to get help from professionals. As a result, the child has reduced his involvement in crime and now has aspirations for his future.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff implement clear boundaries and children know what is expected of them. Staff are skilled at de-escalating situations and children‟s good behaviour is encouraged by staff Inspection report children‟s home: SC474179 6 using positive rewards and consequences. As a result, since the last Ofsted inspection, staff have only needed to use restraint on one occasion to keep a child safe.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff and managers have a good relationship with safeguarding agencies. They work closely with the police and the designated officer. A whistleblowing policy is in place and managers talk to staff about their duty to protect children in their care. As a result, staff are confident to use whistleblowing when they have concerns about the care of a child in the home.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff complete work with children to increase their understanding of risks. For example, staff talk with children about what to do if there is a fire. Fire drills are completed in line with organisational policy. However, staff do not always record who took part in the drills. This lack of clarity has the potential to place children at risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The acting manager was appointed in January 2019. He has made an application to register with Ofsted, which is currently being progressed. The previous registered manager has stepped down and is now working as the home‟s deputy manager. This brings an element of stability to the management team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The acting manager has introduced new procedures for recruiting staff to establish a more qualified staff team and to secure a more stable staff team. This has resulted in five new members of staff being recruited. Six of the eight staff have a level 3 diploma in residential childcare. The remaining staff are within timescales to complete this qualification.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers act quickly and decisively when they have concerns about staff who are putting children at risk by breaching professional boundaries. This means that children‟s safety is prioritised, and children are protected as soon as risks are recognised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Before the recent recruitment of five new members of staff, some children have experienced some inconsistency in their care. A social worker said that a child had not been supported with independence skills because of the number of key workers she has had. A child told the inspector that she had found it difficult to make relationships with some of the staff because they often leave.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff who are new to the home do not always receive supervision as outlined in the home‟s statement of purpose and established members of staff do not always receive an annual appraisal. These omissions leave staff without the opportunity to reflect on their practice and to review their performance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff receive training that helps them to fulfil their roles in caring for vulnerable children. However, one new member of staff has not received training in behaviour management.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The acting manager has recently reviewed the suitability of the location of the home. However, in doing so, he has failed to consider all local factors. For example, the risks to Inspection report children‟s home: SC474179 7 children from the home being located on a busy road have not been addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers use monitoring systems to review the progress of children in their care. However, children‟s records are not always written in a way that helps a child to understand their history. Internal placement plans are not always up to date and therefore do not reflect the current progress of each young person. Managers and staff do not always sign and date records. This means that children‟s records are not an accurate picture of the child‟s lived experience.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the differences made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and young people and their families. In addition, the inspectors have tried to understand what the children‟s home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people whom it is trying to help, protect and look after.

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Information about this inspection

Using the „Social care common inspection framework‟, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with the Children‟s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the „Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟. Inspection report children‟s home: SC474179 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Haven Care Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: First Floor, Unit 3 Barberry Court, Centrum One Hundred, Burton On Trent, Staffordshire DE14 2UE.

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Inspector

Karen Gillingwater: social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC474179 9 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children‟s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children‟s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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